The Pornstar Martini

Chapter 27

The sound of the door closing somehow calmed Regina's nerves. She was alone with Emma in the bathroom of the wedding venue and she felt calm. In fact, she was enjoying herself.

"I saw you managed to get a date after all. Good for you." There wasn't any hostility in Emma's voice. She sounded genuine and that agitated Regina. "It took me a while to recognize him."

"We just made it official last week. He's my boyfriend."

Emma swallowed. Regina didn't think it sounded very believable, but it got to Emma and that was the only thing of importance right now. "Oh," Emma said.

"I figured, if you can repeat the past, so can I."

"Repeat the past?" Emma didn't take on a defensive tone like Regina had expected. She missed Emma's fire. If they were to fight, she wanted to do it properly with two equal components, but Emma sounded more defeated than anything else.

It made Regina feel guilty and she didn't like that. All she wanted was to take Emma in her arms and pretend nothing had happened, but she knew too much had happened in the past weeks.

"Well, you refusing to commit to me and leaving me without reason sounded familiar."

Emma leaned against the bathroom sink and raised her eyebrows. "You were the one that ended things ten years ago. Without an explanation."

"I don't think I needed one. The cause wasn't hard to find," Regina replied. "I.."

"And you were the one ending it this time as well. I don't understand how I've become the villain here."

Regina scoffed. Emma sounded serious, but she couldn't quite believe it. Surely Emma could understand that Regina was tired of being kept on the hook. She hadn't needed an instant commitment, but the prosperity of one. That couldn't have been a surprise for Emma.

"For a second time in my life I've wasted months spending time with you, hoping that someday you'd see me as something more. The first time I was plain naive, but this time.. I just can't wrap my head around it."

Emma sighed and started pacing the room. Regina could tell she was about to explain herself and because she didn't want to seem too eager, she gave Emma all the time in the world.

"I hate seeing you with Robin," Emma admitted and gritted her teeth. "I'm working on my jealousy, I really am. But to see you in here with him, only two weeks after we broke up.. it makes me want to grab the microphone and tell everyone how much I'm still, despite everything, in love with you."

Regina felt her guilt increase and she knew she'd gone too far taking Robin here. "I really want to be happy for you, I do. I'm glad you've finally found someone that makes you happy and that won't hurt you in relationships, like I do."

"What?" Regina almost whispered. She'd barely paid attention to the way Emma looked, but now that she saw the woman with her hair curled and a blue dress draping her body she felt her heart race pick up. She really wanted all this to be over. "You didn't hurt me while we were dating."

"I have."

"Emma, that was ten years ago! I thought we'd agreed to move past it."

"Yes, that was the plan, but everyone constantly reminding me how much I hurt you and telling me you deserve much better than me didn't help me to move past it."

Emma started shifting on her feet and Regina clenched her fingers around the bathroom sink. "Who said that?"

"That doesn't matter."

"It does to me. Who?" Her voice was stern.

"It started with Kathryn being skeptical and reminding me of our past numerous times. One of your friends texted me a couple of times, right after we started dating. Your dad joked about our arrests when I first saw him, but then he said something about hoping that it'd be better this time and your mother was the straw. Everyone was so convinced I'd hurt you that I figured they must be right."